


Everyone Wants a Happy Ending, Right?

by orangeslices4scott



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Asexual Natasha Romanov, Avengers Family, Avengers Feels, Avengers Tower, Bisexual Steve Rogers, Canon Divergence - Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Domestic Avengers, F/F, F/M, Fix-It, Fluff, Injury, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Time Travel, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Trans Peter Parker, just avengers living together, sorting out endgame to make myself feel better, the ending we all deserved
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-16
Updated: 2021-01-03
Packaged: 2021-03-11 00:27:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,576
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28116162
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orangeslices4scott/pseuds/orangeslices4scott
Summary: Although, Tony would’ve liked more time with Peter, not to mention his friends, no, his family, who he’d spent the last five years separated from.Yes, more time would’ve been nice.But for every possibility for a bad ending, there is a better one too. And maybe, after everything, Earth’s Mightiest Heroes will get to live out the lives they deserve. As a family.
Relationships: Clint Barton & Natasha Romanov, James "Bucky" Barnes & Peter Parker & Sam Wilson, James "Bucky" Barnes & Steve Rogers & Sam Wilson, James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers, James "Rhodey" Rhodes & Tony Stark, Loki & Thor (Marvel), Michelle Jones & Ned Leeds & Peter Parker, Peter Parker & Tony Stark, Steve Rogers & Tony Stark, Wanda Maximoff/Vision
Comments: 7
Kudos: 42





	1. I am Iron Man

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony thinks this will be the end of him, and he doesn’t really mind. But a certain sorcerer has other plans, and a certain god of thunder has further plans still.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’ve finally cracked. After this awful year, we deserve nothing more than the Avengers being able to live together once more, without time travelling shenanigans or deadly battles or purple giants separating them. So this is me reworking the ending of Endgame to give the Avengers the break they deserve.

“And I... am... Iron Man.”

The immense satisfaction Tony gets from the shock in Thanos’ eyes is nothing compared to the blinding pain that rushes up his arm and straight to his head when his middle finger hits his palm. He can practically feel his brain pulsing inside his skull, screaming, thoughts a jumble of places and names and emotions as he fights to not let it overwhelm him. Will it ever stop? Honestly, he expected death to be at least a little quicker than this.

A second later and it does stop. The burning in his head subsides, allowing him to calm his rapid thoughts before blinking dazedly and then fully opening his eyes. But what Tony expects he’ll see, he doesn’t. No wreckage, no bodies, neither friend nor enemy. It seems to have all been swallowed by a soft red sky.

Oh, he thinks. Maybe I am dead after all.

Turning on his heel, Tony looks for something, anything, a single sign of life in the emptiness he stands in. His armour is gone, as is the gauntlet and the damage it had managed to do to his right arm in the mere seconds he’d held it before he snapped. He’s left in his jacket and shirt, even the arc reactor, the very thing that had brought him here in the long run, was nowhere to be seen.

Surprisingly, the pang of fear Tony had expected to feel at some point hadn’t come, and as he looks around at the nothingness he realises why: he knows, he just feels in his heart that they’ve won. The image of Peter comes to him, the boy tripping over his words as he eagerly explained what’d happened before he’d arrived at the battle. Tony laughs as he remembers his hand gestures, imitating Strange’s magic. Yes, that’s why he isn’t afraid. He knows that, even if he doesn’t make it, the world is in capable hands.

Although, he would’ve liked more time with Peter, not to mention his friends, no, _family_ , who he’d spent the last five years separated from. It all seems stupid to him now. Oh, how much more bearable that half a decade would’ve been if he’d been with the others, with Natasha, with Steve and Bruce and maybe they’d have managed to convince Thor and Clint to stick around, not to mention Rhodey.

Yes, more time would’ve been nice.

“Where is he?”

Steve turns, wiping his eyes roughly on his torn sleeve but keeping one hand on Tony’s shoulder. The wizard from Bleecker Street is coming,what did Tony and Bruce say his name was?

“I’m sorry, I don’t remember your name,” Steve says when the cloaked man is close enough to hear his gravely voice, pain evident in his words.

“Unimportant. Are the stones still here?” The man reaches out and takes hold of Tony’s hand, turning it over to reveal the stones sitting in the charred remains of the temporary gauntlet Tony had created with his armour. Steve watches Tony’s chest for a moment, sees the slow but visible rise and fall of his breathing. He’s still here, although Steve doubts he will be for much longer.

Turning back to the sorcerer, Steve sees him take the green stone, the time stone, from Tony’s destroyed hand. After waving his fingers in a peculiar way, the necklace he wears opens and he places the stone in the small indent that was made especially for it.

“What are you gonna do with that? We need to return it to the timeline we took it from,” Steve tells him, again knuckling his eyes to stop the tears.

“And you will, but let me do this first. Stand back.” Steve, although confused, follows the wizard’s orders and steps back a few paces. The magician stands in front of Tony, who’s leaning against a part of what used to be a wall of some sort, maybe the gym, too weak to even lift his head. His eyes are shut, arms hanging limply by his side.

Feeling a strong hand on his shoulder, Steve glances to his right and sees Thor stood beside him, a vision of strength even as blood runs down his face. The two of them observe silently as the man waves his hands in the direction of their fallen ally, their friend, green light encircling his arms. Then the most remarkable thing happens.

The eyes of both the super soldier and god widen as they watch the damaged, burnt skin of Tony’s arm stitch itself back together. It somewhat mirrors his own enhanced healing, Steve thinks, except nowhere near as slow. Within maybe a minute or more, Tony’s sleeveless arm is new and perfect and healed, not a single trace left of the unimaginable power that it had served as a vessel for. And then, Tony opens his eyes.

A weight lifts from Steve’s face as he stumbles over to his friend, a smile on his face in spite of the searing ache of his numerous injuries, and reaches out a hand, pulling the genius to his feet. Tony grins at him, his mind running a million miles a minute as he struggles to wrap his head around the fact that he’s alive.

“You did it.” Blue eyes meet brown as the long time friends look at each other, no longer feeling the discontentment between them. All they feel now is the warmth and relief of their victory, of knowing that they succeeded and brought almost everyone home.

“Did you doubt me, Cap?” Tony raises an eyebrow but his smile doesn’t falter; Steve shakes his head and hugs the other, only for a moment but squeezes him gently as he lets go.

“Mr Stark?” Tony looks up and his smile only widens when he sees the owner of the voice. Peter is running towards them, not stopping until his arms are around his father figure. “You’re alive! I thought you were dead, sir!”

“Me, dead? Impossible,” Tony teases, leaning into the teenager and pressing a light kiss against the side of his head. “I’m alright, Pete, I’m fine.”

“Good, I was worried,” the younger says quietly, still holding onto Tony. Tony smiles again as he feels the warmth of the boy in his arms, his surrogate son he had missed sorely for so long. But that didn’t matter anymore: it was over. After all these years, they’d truly won.

“Stark, if I may interject.” Tony lets go of Peter reluctantly to face Thor, who had been watching them with a beaming smile.

“What is it, point break?”

“I’ve been thinking of this for some time now. I’d like to use the stones again, if you’ll allow me to.” Tony, Steve and Peter look at him with questioning, if not slightly nervous eyes.

“What? Thor, are you thinking clearly, we can’t risk this win, you know?”Thor nods at the soldier, but his expression doesn’t change.

“I am well aware that this has been a monumental achievement, but I want to use the stones to bring back my people. They too suffered untimely deaths at the hands of Thanos, and what kind of king, what kind of person would I be if I didn’t at least use this immeasurable power to try and save them?”

Steve still looks uncertain, and Peter downright terrified, but Tony nods slightly. He knows what it is to live with guilt, knows how it eats away at you day in and day out. Who would he be to refuse Thor this chance to live without it for the first time in years?

“Are you sure your body can handle it? We don’t want to lose you too, pal.” Thor nods, clenching his jaw as Tony offers him the gauntlet with five of the six stones in their slots. “Strange?”

“This is a bad idea,” Strange says, shaking his head at Tony but offering the god of thunder the time stone all the same.

“Maybe,” Tony says, slipping a comforting arm around Peter’s shoulder. “Or maybe not.”

The gauntlet resizes itself to fit Thor’s considerably bigger hand and he puts it on, wincing but otherwise not reacting to the coloured streaks settling into his veins, shooting up his arm. He looks down at the gauntlet clearing his mind of all but one thought: bring back everyone who was lost that day, bring them back to their king.

“Thor, are you okay?” Steve’s worried voice prompts him to open his eyes, smiling at his two friends.

“Never better,” he says with a grin, touching his middle finger to his thumb and snapping.

The energy that the stones exert is so bright that the others must shield their eyes, Tony with a hand on Peter’s face to block the flash. Voices ring out over the comms immediately, asking what happened and is there another threat and for god’s sake, Steve, you better not be doing something stupid. But neither Tony nor Steve hear them, instead they gaze at the sight before them in wonder.

Hundreds of people stand before them, scattered around the vicinity of the compound wreckage. Each is dressed in the most magnificent attire, gold embellished tunics and velvet skirts and dazzling armour. The Asgardians look around in shock, forming little groups of those who know each other. And in the middle of it all is their king, his eyes glazed over as the hole in his heart finally fills.

“Thor, what did you...” Valkyrie’s amazed voice trails off over the comms, no doubt in awe of her lost people just as much as he is. Thor turns back to Steve and Tony, his mouth stretched wide and tears in his eyes, when his face freezes. The soldier and the billionaire follow his gaze over their shoulders, where they are surprised to see a familiar face, a smirk ever present on his sharp features. Dropping the gauntlet to the ground, Thor moves past them, not hesitating in the slightest before folding his younger brother into his arms. Loki seems begrudging at first, but it isn’t long before his own arms hold his brother in them, reunited once more under the stars.

“I told you, didn’t I?” The god of mischief says gently. “The sun will shine on us again.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Who gave Loki the right to be so pure? Oh yeah, me, because I’m the fool writing this. 
> 
> This chapter (as I’m sure you’ve realised) and the next, maybe the third too, will focus on some of the events from the ending of Endgame, although with majorly different outcomes. After that, I don’t have much of an idea where this is headed but I do know it will be the domestic shit we all crave, there’ll be relationships and friendships and shenanigans and it might finally cure my Endgame depression.
> 
> Also, apart from Steve/Bucky and Wanda/Vision I’m not really sure which way I’m gonna go in terms of romantic relationships. I’m leaning towards Peter/Harley and maybe Tony/Strange but other than that I’m just gonna go with it. So any suggestions of what pairings you’d like me to consider will be much appreciated :)


	2. The Infinity Stones

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve’s trip to return the stones goes about as smoothly as he expects. That is, for most of the time anyway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter ended up being really long and I almost didn’t have time to finish it today but I managed it and didn’t want to split it into two chapters. I doubt they’ll be this long in future but for now enjoy!

Sam walks beside his friend to the clearing where the quantum tunnel had been temporarily set up. Eventually it would be safely back in the compound, but it had been rebuilt for this mission specially. Steve was to return the stones to the exact moments they were taken to avoid dooming another timeline, another universe of life.

Bruce stands at the control panel, staring hard at small screens and figures, flipping a switch here and pressing a button there. Bucky is with him, a look of pure confusion on his face as he watches the scientist, hands stuffed deep in the pockets of his jacket.

“How’s it looking?” Steve asks, alerting the other two of their arrival. Bruce doesn’t seem to hear him; Bucky blinks as he looks at one of the screens before shaking his head, offering Steve nothing except a shrug of his shoulders. Steve sighs and walks around the panel to stand with them. “Bruce?”

“And... done. Should be fine,” Bruce looks up at Steve, giving him an encouraging yet apprehensive smile.

“ _Should_ be?”

“Yeah. I’m calculating a 10% chance of malfunction.” Sam and Steve share a glance.

“You know what, it’s good enough.” Steve shakes his head as he moves towards the platform of the tunnel. Sam and Bucky follow him, leaving Bruce to fiddle with the machine some more.

“Are you sure you know exactly where you’re going?” Sam raises his eyebrows at Steve, who simply nods with a grin.

“Are you sure?” Bucky’s voice is quieter.

“Buck, nothing’s gonna happen. I’ll be fine, I made it back the first time, didn’t I?”

“You got lucky the first time, punk. Doesn’t mean it’ll happen again. This is time travel, does anyone really ever know what the hell is going on with-“

He stops as Steve hugs him gently, resting his chin on Bucky’s shoulder. He’s still worried, of course he is, but he has to admit, the touch is nice. Comforting, almost.

“I’m gonna be alright, I promise.”

When Steve opens his eyes, he immediately thinks through his assignment. He’s in New York, which means the mind stone and time stone need to be returned here. Tony had replaced the mind stone inside Loki’s sceptre, and the time stone only needed to be handed back to the Ancient One, Bruce had mentioned she knew about everything that had happened. Seems simple enough, right?

Given that he is closer to the tower, that’s his first stop. Steve gets in with ease, no one stopping him or even really noticing him. That ddoesn’t make him lower his guard in the slightest however: there are now two past Steve’s he doesn’t want to make the aquaintence of.

After the Hulk bursts out of the stairway, Steve slips in behind him, taking the stairs two at a time until he hears the unmistakable sound of his own voice. Peering around a corner, he sees the two other Steve’s fall hard from one of the walkways above, the sound of their bodies hitting the floor making him wince remembering the pain. They grapple for a minute more, until the more recent version manages to get the sceptre and touch it to the other’s chest, immediately taking effect and knocking him out. Steve can’t help but laugh when he hears his duplicate comment on his costume before heading out to regroup with Tony and Scott. Once he’s sure the other him isn’t turning back, Steve moves forward and opens the case he’d been gripping in his left hand the whole time: the case that held the stones in their various forms. He places the sceptre next to his unconscious clone, checking that he hasn’t been seen before heading back out the building the opposite way of the other Steve.

Next up is the Sanctum Sanctorum, which isn’t too hard to locate after he consults the list of addresses Bruce had provided him with. The door of the building stands open, so instead of knocking Steve just pushes it open wider and steps inside, safe from someone unwanted seeing him. He half wishes he had the time to properly admire the home of the sorcerers but he knows he’s on a tight schedule so instead of marvelling at the ornate decorations he heads straight up the stairs and out onto the roof where he’d been told he’d find the Ancient One.

Pushing the door open with his shield, his new one Tony had made for him after the previous one had been broken in the battle, Steve steps out onto the roof of the building. For a moment, he is taken aback by the view over the city: the smoke, the alien carcasses littering the streets, the destroyed homes and offices and shops. Tony’s words from seven years ago resurface in his head.

_“We need to be put in check. Whatever form that takes, I’m game.”_

And suddenly Steve gets it a little bit more. Sure, he still stands by his decisions, both not to give up their autonomy and to protect Bucky, but he understands what Tony felt more now than he could then.

“Usually it’s a lot nicer looking, I can assure you.”

Steve whips around, caught off guard by the voice, and comes face to face with the woman Bruce had described. Her face bears an unfeeling mask, not a single feature betraying her emotions. It unnerves him a little, being an emotional person himself.

“Ma’am, I, erm, I’ve brought this back,” Steve fumbles over his words as he opens the case, presenting the green glowing rock to its current owner.

“Everything went well then, I assume?” the sorceress asks as she takes the stone from the soldier, although Steve is almost certain she already knows the answer. He nods anyway. “Well, I wish you the best of luck with returning the others, Captain. Oh, and tell Stephen Strange I said hello, will you?”

“Sure thing. Um, thank you.”

“My god...”

Steve jaw hangs open as he struggles to take in the magnificent scene before him. This was where Thor was from? He hadn’t exactly been sure what to expect, but man, this is amazing.

Per Bruce’s instructions, he’d sent himself straight to the palace rather than risking getting lost in the winding streets of Asgard. But the palace seems a lot bigger in person than it had been made out to be.

Steve is about to start moving, despite having no real idea to go to find Jane Foster, when he hears voices. Jumping behind one of the vast, gold pillars, he watches for any sign of movement. It’s then that he realises Thor and Rocket had just arrived, only across the way from where he’s hiding. They’re talking, Steve can just about make out enough to make sense of it. Thor is having doubts, being back home on his now destroyed planet understandably being a lot for even a god to handle. Steve scowls as he sees the raccoon slap his friend, telling him to pull himself together.

The pair separate, and Steve notices the syringe in Rocket’s hand as he runs in the opposite direction to Thor. That same syringe was in Steve’s hand now, although full of the red sludge Thor had described as the Ether or something. Making sure he’s out of the way, the soldier pursues the raccoon, following him through winding corridors, everything golden and practically glowing. Eventually, they come to a small room with a breathtaking view on the balcony. Steve holds his breath as he sees the young woman asleep on the bed, her soft hair spread out perfectly around her narrow face.

Waiting behind the corner, Steve grips the syringe tight in his hand, hearing the scream of the girl as Rocket attacks her with his version of the needle. She calls for guards who quickly chase after Rocket, Steve pressing himself against the wall in his corner and narrowly avoiding being spotted.

Now it’s his turn.

She’s sat up now, and her frightened eyes widen further as Steve enters the room, holding his hands up to show he means no harm. Jane Foster opens her mouth as if to shout for help again but the frantic shaking of Steve’s head stops her.

“Please don’t, I’m not here to hurt you. That thing the animal took, I just need to give it back, okay?” She doesn’t say anything, instead pressing herself against the wall away from him, so Steve decides to use a different approach. “You’re from Earth, right? Do you know who I am?” He asks carefully, allowing her to get a good look at the shield.

“...Captain America?” Steve nods.

“Look, that raccoon or whatever he was wasn’t supposed to take what he did, so I need to put it back in you before things start to get real bad. It’ll all be fine in the end, just trust me.” He waits for her to answer, which she does with a still anxious but less terrified nod. “Okay, just hold still for me...”

Making sure he’s gentle with her, Steve takes her arm and presses the needle in, pushing down on the syringe before she can change her mind. He frowns when he hears her sharp inhale as the red liquid flows back into her veins.

“Sorry, sorry,” Steve mutters, removing the needle as painlessly as he can before straightening up.“Thank you, ma’am, this’ll help out so many people in the long run, I promise.” He salutes her before quickly grabbing the shield and the case and getting out of there.

Rhodey and Nebula may have been the most efficient of them all in getting their stone, Steve realises, as he stealthily trails them, witnessing them taking care of Peter Quill and entering the temple with no real issue. Steve hangs back near the thief’s body, waiting for Nebula to return to the ship once she realises her father is onto them.

As he waits, Steve glances over at the young man’s body, noticing the device on his head that had probably been the source of the music he’d been dancing to. It looks outdated, not nearly advanced as anything you’d find in the stores today. In fact, Steve was pretty sure he’d never seen anything like it.

Hold on, did he just call it _outdated_? Hm, maybe he isn’t that out of his element in the 21st century anymore. He has been there for what, twelve years now?

Nebula’s echoing footsteps pull him from his thoughts as she races back towards the ship. Steve takes his chance and runs in the opposite direction, towards the temple. The stand for the orb that holds the power stone is surrounded by some sort of laser barrier; whatever it is, Steve doesn’t particularly like the idea of losing a hand to find out. Thankfully, Rhodey had warned them about this obstacle beforehand, and Tony had fashioned a tiny device to temporarily disable the barrier. Steve pulls it out of the small pouch on his belt, pressing it against the stand and watching as the barrier retracted into either ends of the pedestal. Not wanting to risk testing how long the device lasts for, Steve balances the orb containing the purple gem on its stand and reactivates his quantum suit. Things are going well, almost better than he’d expected. Four stones down, two to go.

His next endeavour finds him back outside his metaphorical birthplace, the very place this entire, unbelievable journey had begun; Camp Lehigh. Not eager to stick around for fear of being recognised, Steve ducks into a storage room, finding the too big uniform he’d left there last time, a week ago for him but probably seconds ago for this universe. Stuffing his shield out of sight behind some crates, he makes a beeline for the bunker he’d explored years ago with Natasha, the place that had revealed to them all the corruption that had been happening behind closed doors, the place he’d learned that the Starks’ untimely deaths had been no unfortunate accident. A part of him, he knows, will always regret keeping that secret from their son.

Unlike the other strange places this mission has already taken him, Steve knows almost exactly where he’s going this time, locating the large case for storing the tessaract in a matter of minutes.

Wait. The _tesseract_. All he has is the space stone in its considerably more compact form.

After considering it for a moment, Steve takes the stone out of his case and places it in the large space meant for the cosmic cube, closing the container and getting out of there. Surely it wouldn’t matter the size of the stone, right? Well, even if it did, it was no longer his problem.

Steve stops short outside, halfway between the bunker and the storage unit he’d stashed his shield in. He knows he should just go and make his final stop, all he had to do was return one more stone and it’d be finished, this timeline no longer doomed to an eternity of suffering.

But before he knows what he’s doing, his legs are carrying him into the main office building. No, that’s a lie: he knows exactly what he’s doing, and honestly, he has no desire to stop himself. So he allows his body to take him to the elevator, exiting on the same floor he’d been to earlier to retrieve (okay, steal) the pym particles. The door he’s looking for comes into view, her name painstakingly printed on the glass. He goes in.

She’s there, just as before, only a window away from him. Steve knows he shouldn’t, the risk of her seeing him is too great, but he does anyway, moving closer to the window and pressing a hand against the glass. A part of him wants her to see him.

Just like before, it all comes rushing back to him at an overwhelming pace, threatening to destabilise him at any moment. Their meeting, their fight, their kiss.

The kiss. Despite the dire circumstances, he remembers it being nice, warming him in a way he hadn’t felt for a while. Only now does he realise why he’d been craving that feeling. It makes perfect sense to him now; her warmth, her comfort, had been a replacement, cement to fill the hole in his chest, in his heart.

The rattle of the wheels on the tracks rings sharply in his ears. He pushes the memory away.

It’s now that he realises something else. She’s happy. She’s doing what she always wanted, advancing her career which he knows will one day be such an amazing list of accomplishments. She’s fine, she’s okay without him. She’s moved on.

_“Sometimes the best that we can do is to start over.”_

Peggy was right. He’d always known she was right, but now he was confronting that truth head on. Move on. After half a decade of being stuck in a haze of numbing emotions and emptiness, that doesn’t sound like a half bad idea.

_“I have lived a life. My only regret is that you didn’t get to life yours.”_

“Don’t worry, Peg. You won’t have to worry about me anymore.”

Steve had forgotten about the final stone, the soul stone. No, he hadn’t forgotten the stone, he’d forgotten how Clint had obtained it. Until now, as he stares up at the shadowy mountain, facing the fact that he has to watch his friend die.

Natasha and Clint are already halfway up when Steve begins the climb, their nimble assassain trained bodies making short work of the arduous journey. When at long last Steve pushes himself up onto the flat surface beside the temple, the pair are already deliberating what to do.

“For the last five years I’ve been trying to do one thing: get to right here. That’s all it’s been about. Bringing everybody back.”

“Oh, don’t you get all decent on me now.”

“What, you think I wanna do it? I’m trying to save your life, you idiot.”

“Yeah, well, I don’t want you to because I- Natasha, you know what I’ve done. You know what I’ve become.”

“I don’t judge people on their worst mistakes.”

“Maybe you should.”

“You didn’t.”

Steve stops listening, sitting down against the temple and holding his clenched fist to his mouth. All he can think of is Clint’s face when they emerged from the tunnel; utterly distraught. He’d desperately wanted it to be him, they knew he had, but hearing the two each beg the other to let them die is agonising.

Leaning his head against the stone wall and shutting his eyes, Steve tries not to feel. He tries not to be alarmed when he hears the explosion, likely from one of Clint’s arrows, as the two begin to fight. He tries not to listen to Clint pleading desperately with Natasha to stay.

“No, please no.”

He tries not to hear the archer’s cry as she falls, tries not to feel the hot tears slide down his cheeks, tries not to notice the grief that once again encases him as he struggles to believe what he has now actually witnessed.

When he’s certain Clint isn’t there anymore, Steve braves a look over the edge of the cliff. His breath sticks in his throat as he sees her, splayed out on the rock seemingly miles below him. The soldier sinks to his knees, his enhanced body wracked with sobs as he properly feels every ounce of her loss, no longer subdued by the determination of finishing the job and honouring her sacrifice. He’d done that, so now he allows himself to ache for her.

Steve doesn’t know how much time passes. When he rises, it isn’t because he’s ready to leave her. It’s because he has cried himself out, his body no longer allowing him to release his pain, and now he doesn’t know what to do with himself other than finish what he came to do and go home. Bucky’s arms seem a distant memory here, and he doesn’t like it. He longs to be held and told it isn’t his fault and everything will be alright, although he isn’t sure either of those things, especially the former, are true.

“Steven, son of Sarah.”

Steve spins around, shield raised. His eyes widen when he sees the sinister figure before him, black smoke curling around his cloak.

“I thought you were dead.” His voice comes out shaky and meek, not at all how he intended it to. Red Skull doesn’t respond, his face doesn’t even twitch. He most likely doesn’t remember Steve, but Steve is too busy resisting the overwhelming urge to switch on his suit and leave to notice. This is the face that has stalked his nightmares for over a decade, and now the only comforting thought that he was in the past has been snatched from him.

“It’s- it’s your fault, all of it. What happened to me, what your guys did to Bucky...” Steve again pushes away the image of Bucky plummeting down, down, down, lost to him forever.

“A lifetime ago, I sought the stones, even held one in my hand... now, I reside here. Guiding others to a treasure I cannot possess.”

The cryptic answer infuriates Steve as he stops himself lunging at the crimson figure, while also fighting off the memories trying to slip to the forefront of his mind. He turns back, forcing his eyes to see the cliff edge behind him, remind himself what he’s here for. It’s not to relive the past, it’s to save the future.

“I have it.” He says bluntly, holding up the orange stone in his gloved hand, the other arm still keeping the shield held up defensively. “If I give it to you, do I get her back? A soul for a soul, that’s how this works, isn’t it?”

“Perhaps, if you had been the one to sacrifice her.”

“No. No, you listen to me now! I’m not leaving here without her, you get me? It’s both of us, or you don’t get this back!” Steve’s voice rises in volume as tears once again flow down his face. It’s too much, it’s too much, and it would be unbearable for it not to be worth it in the end. He needs her.

He walks over to the edge, inhaling shakily when he sees her body again, still and broken at the bottom. Steve doesn’t really think things through when he’s emotional, and he definitely doesn’t think it through when he flicks his finger and sends the stone hurlting down to join his lost friend at the foot of the mountain.

The next thing he knows, Steve is lying in some sort of pool, he assumes it’s water but isn’t really sure. He shoots up, the cold liquid soaking his skin and making him shiver uncomfortably. The shield is next to him, which he reaches out for as he sits there, pretty sure he’s trembling under the suit. Reawakening his past in such a way had truly terrified him.

“Steve?”

His head snaps up, jolted by the voice as he’s sure he imagined it. It was too clear, too real, ironically, to be that. Real. Because she’s dead.

“Steve, come on, talk to me. Can you hear me?”

Yes he can, it’s the believing part that he hasn’t quite got the hang of. But that hand on his shoulder is really there, it’s tangible, it’s real. She’s real.

Steve turns, still sitting, and sees Natasha Romanoff looking down at him concernedly, hand on his shoulder and a soft smile on her face as she registers he’s heard her.

“You scared me for a second, you were-“ Steve cuts her off by getting to his feet and pulling her close, burying his head in her shoulder. She seems confused but he doesn’t care, doesn’t care that she’ll see he’s crying again. He doesn’t care about Schmidt, doesn’t care about the stone, doesn’t care about any of it. All that matters is that she’s here, she’s in his arms, he can feel her.

“I didn’t think it’d work,” he says quietly, voice muffled by her shoulder.

“Didn’t think what would work?” Natasha asks gently, moving his head up to face her and wiping his tears with her thumb.

“The stone. I didn’t think I’d be able to get you back, but it worked, you’re alive, you can come back with me!” Natasha smiles at his relief, keeping her hand in his and squeezing gently.

“So we did it?”

“You did it, Tasha. They’re all back, Sam, Buck, Wanda, all of them, all because of you,” Steve tells her, fiddling with his shield. He offers her a small metal disk no bigger than her fingernail, which she immediately recognises.

“Lucky you brought a spare,” she says with a grin as she presses it to her chest, the quantum suit spreading over her body in nanoparticles.

“Tony insisted, in case I “lost” this one. I’m starting to think he had the same hope I did though.” He smiles at her as their helmets snap into place over their heads, ready to leave this fever dream of a universe.

“Let’s go home.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Steve and Natasha’s friendship is one of the greatest things about the MCU I can’t lie. 
> 
> This was really satisfying to write, it was nice to change the bits I don’t like about the movie, like the entire treatment of Peggy as well as the lack of any real mourning for Natasha. Also, I’m not sure the MCU would allow the soul stone switch but this is my story and I say it’s fine because we need her back. 
> 
> Steve is my favourite character out of the entire MCU and diving into his head was pretty fun to write. 
> 
> I hope you enjoyed it :)


	3. Reunion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They were half expecting Steve not to make it back, let alone bring someone else with him.

Once he feels his feet hit the platform again, Steve keeps his eyes closed for a second, moving a hand to his head when the helmet retracts into his suit. After so many trips through the quantum realm, his head was starting to spin. It slowly wears off, but it’s the hand that takes hold of his arm that fully grounds him in reality.

“You okay?”

“Never better.” He smiles at Natasha, not looking up properly until they step down from the platform. All three guys are wide eyed with shock at seeing their supposedly dead friend appear in front of them. It takes a moment for him to get over it, then Sam is straight over to Natasha, hugging her tightly. Bruce is right behind him, and then Bucky, who seems caught off guard when she stands on tiptoe to wrap her arms around his neck. Steve’s heart warms as a soft smile appears on Bucky’s face as he hugs her back. With Natasha immediately in conversation with the others, Steve pulls the other super soldier aside.

“I told you I’d be fine, you idiot,” he says with a smile. It only lasts a moment though, the image of Bucky falling now succeeding in forcing him to relive it. Bucky watches, his face dropping into a concerned frown as he sees the tears in Steve’s eyes.

“Hey, hey, what’s up pal?” He softens his voice, absentmindedly reaching for Steve’s shaking hand, running his thumb over the knuckles.

“Sorry, it’s nothing, it’s- I guess the past just kinda sucked sometimes.” Bucky laughs quietly as Steve wipes his eyes on the back of his hand, smiling slightly through the tears.

“Don’t have to tell me twice.” Bucky shakes his head fondly, reaching up his right hand to cup the back of Steve’s neck, letting his thumb drift over his cheek. Steve leans into it, but notices all the same the lost look in Bucky’s eyes.

“What is it?”

“I- honestly I wasn’t fully expecting you to come back.” At that Steve moves his face away from Bucky’s hand, his face obviously betraying how outrageous he’d found the confession.

“What?” That’s all Steve can think to say.

“Oh, don’t give me that look. I’m not stupid, Steve. You really think I missed the way she looked at you?” Bucky lets his hand fall back to his side, where it is immediately gripped tightly in Steve’s.

“Okay, so maybe she did like me, and honestly can you blame her?” Bucky smiles at this. “But Buck, it’s always been you, always.” Steve moves his hand up slightly, feeling Bucky’s pulse gently throbbing in his wrist. He glances down at it, focusing all his senses on the beat. That little drumming had survived so much, defied so many odds, just to keep beating. And in that moment he’s so, so grateful that it did.

“Holy cow...” Peter gazes up at the tower in all it’s glory, the A symbol glistening in the sunlight. When he manages to ease his eyes off the magnificent sight and down to the entrance, he sees that everything is buzzing with activity. Bruce is directing some volunteers as they move a scientific-looking contraption that looks so advanced even Peter is certain he’d never be able to work it, Rhodey is up top in his armour directing a quinjet to the landing platform near the top floor, Wanda is just inside using her telekinesis to lift some of the heavier boxes. The funny thing is, Peter thinks, if you took away the superhuman elements of the affair, it’d look like any normal family on moving day.

Clint drops down from... Peter doesn’t actually know where, and holds out his hand to the teen.

“You must be Stark’s son, the spider kid. Clint Barton, ‘s a pleasure.” Peter nods and shakes his hand, not even comprehending his choice of words until the archer is once again out of sight.

“So, have you told everyone I’m your son?” Before Tony can explain himself, Wanda floats over.

“Practically. It’s nice to meet you, Peter. I’m sure we’ll be seeing a lot more of you in the near future,” she says with a warm smile. Confusedly, Peter turns to Tony for answers.

“Oh, did I forget to mention? You’ve got your own room, kid. Here whenever you wanna stay. You’re free to drop by whenever you please.” Tony couldn’t help but grin as Peter’s face lit up.

“Oh my gosh, Mr Stark, thank you so much, this is _awesome_! I just have one question...” Tony nods for him to continue. “Could I bring my best friend Ned with me sometimes? He already found out that I’m Spider-Man.”

“Sure, but let us know in advance if you do, got it?” Peter nods excitedly. “Now, come on, we could do with some super strength.”

Peter runs off immediately to help with some boxes, and Tony is about to get his suit to oversee things when the low rumble of an engine catches his attention. He turns and sees Steve pull up on the road beside him. Now, Tony was expecting Steve, who had packed up the last of his belongings from his old apartment. What he _wasn’t_ expecting was the redhead who emerged from the passenger side. It had only been a day since Steve had returned the stones, so they hadn’t had the chance to discuss how it went, what, with the move to Avengers Tower and all.

“I will say, for the record Rogers, a little heads up would’ve been greatly appreciated,” Tony says, his voice wobbling slightly as Natasha smiles.

“Tasha?” Tony turns and sees Clint behind him, his face frozen in shock apart from the tears gathering in his eyes. She moves towards him but he’s there first, shutting his eyes tightly as he hugs her. Natasha can feel him shaking against her as she leans her head on his shoulder.

“I’m so sorry, god, I’m sorry Tasha,” he whispers against her, his head leant against hers. Natasha moves his head back and holds his face in both hands, shaking her head.

“Stop that, you idiot, it wasn’t your fault.” She looks up at him and laughs softly as he smiles through his tears, pulling his head down and letting him bury his head in her shoulder. Looking over Clint’s shoulder, she holds a hand out to Tony, who takes it with a smile and kisses it gently.

“Sorry for not calling ahead. Just felt like it’d be a nice surprise,” Steve says as he moves to stand next to Tony, glancing up at the tower. “How’s it going?”

“Yeah, it’s going pretty well so far. Thor isn’t here yet, not to mention his nutjob of a brother but it doesn’t matter, they can do what they want with their spaces. Vision’s upstairs I’m pretty sure, and your cyborg boyfriend left with Wilson a while ago, don’t know where. There’s a diagram just on the front desk their that tells you which floor you’re on.” Steve nods and pats Tony’s back before going inside, finding the map as Tony had said. For a moment he’d been about to say _he’s not my boyfriend_ but had decided against it. It sounded nice.

Steve walks back out to start transferring his small number of boxes to his floor when he sees Sam and Bucky turn onto their street. He waves before turning back to his boxes when his head snaps up again, not sure if he’d imagined it. Sure enough, Bucky’s hair is freshly cut, as short or if not shorter than he used to have it all the way back in 1944. It stands up in a little flick at the front and Steve feels his cheeks heat up as he realises he’d said whoosh in his head as his eyes traced the wave.

“Wow, this is new,” he says when Sam and Bucky are close enough to hear him.

“Lil Jamesy wanted a haircut so mommy had to take him to the barbers’,” Sam teases, flipping Bucky off as he dodges the playful punch thrown his way.

“Piss off, bird brain, go make your nest.” Sam holds his hands up in mock surrender as he leaves to sort out his floor. “I do honestly hate that guy.”

“Eh, he’s growing on you. And anyway, it looks good.” Steve reaches his hand up and runs his fingers through the dark hair before the metal arm bats him away lightly. He can’t help but smile at that, remembering how protective Bucky had been about his hair when they were younger, especially towards their late teens. It’s still strange to him that now Bucky is in a way younger than him, through both cryo in Wakanda and the five year blip. “Have you got your own floor?”

“Nah, who needs all that space? A room would be fine by me.”

“Well, I- erm, I was thinking, and there’s no pressure, of course, but I was wondering if you’d maybe wanna move in with me? Tony gave me a whole floor and it’d be a bit empty by myself, wouldn’t it?” Bucky’s face is unreadable for a moment, making Steve panic. “If you don’t want to, that’s-“

He’s cut off when Bucky kisses him, hand finding Steve’s by their side. Steve takes a second to recover before intertwining their fingers and squeezing tightly. When they part, Bucky sees his cheeks redden and laughs, letting their foreheads touch.

“You’re so stupid sometimes, Stevie.” Steve can’t help but smile at the blue-grey eyes mere inches from his own. “I’d love to move in with you. It can be just like old times, you and me crashing in the same bed.”

“I suspect the bed’ll be a bit bigger this time, Buck.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really enjoyed this chapter, smoothing out the last part of Endgame so after this, we can head to new territory. One thing that has to happen is Ned visiting the tower and freaking out over his idols. 
> 
> Also, if you hadn’t figured it out, Smart Hulk (or Professor Hulk or whatever you want to call him) isn’t a thing in this story. This doesn’t actually have an effect on the events of Endgame, as they seem to still use Banner’s brain and the Hulk’s strength separately. I just really disliked it, how it was so sudden and didn’t actually have a purpose as well as a real explanation. 
> 
> I’ll try and keep updating as regularly as I can, thanks for reading :)


	4. Surprises

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Someone catches wind of a certain archer’s birthday coming up and Tony plans an even bigger surprise.

“Jingle bells, Tony smells-”

“-Like Axe body spray.”

Tony turns and rolls his eyes at Bucky, and then at Harley who was sniggering at the ex-assassin’s addition to his song. Bucky smirks at him from where he’s stretched out on the couch.

“It’s bad luck to sing Christmas songs in January,” Tony mutters.

“Seriously though, Stark, why is that stuff the only body spray you have? And I swear, there’s a can in like every drawer-”

“It’s for emergencies!” Tony snaps, cursing Scott under his breath for sharing his discovery in lieu of having to slip inside the arc reactor during their Time Heist. Immediately regretting his reaction as he hears the others laugh even more, he takes a deep breath and tries to focus on his (very late) Christmas present for Wanda.

“Hey, what is that thing, anyway?” Bucky asks, walking over and waving at the... _thing_ in Tony’s hand. It’s glowing slightly, the faint blue light reflecting off the cool, black metal of his left arm.

“Substitute power source for- actually, I’m gonna keep this one between me, myself and I.”

“What? No, come on, now I wanna know even more!” Bucky is a little taller than Tony (and boy, he is never going to let Lil’ Stark forget it) but he still folds his arms and pouts when Tony simply holds it out of his reach before he seals whatever it is in a box and takes it down to his workshop, two floors below the ground floor reception of the tower.

“Not exactly between you and yourself if I’m in on it,” Harley points out, following his mentor to the workshop to continue their project.

“But Robocop doesn’t need to know that, does he? And you’re not even the only one in on it, the other should- there he is now.”

Harley turns to see a slightly smaller boy with curly brown hair bounce down the stairs, a huge grin on his face. He stops when he sees the tall stranger stood beside his boss.

“Um, hi, Mr Stark... I got here as quick as I could, May needed some help at work,” the boy stutters, his hands fidgeting with the end of his jacket.

“Perfect timing, Pete. This is Harley Keener, he’s... an old friend of mine. Harley, this is Peter Parker, otherwise known as-”

“Spider-Man, I thought so.” Harley grins at Peter as he holds out his hand, which Peter takes a little too quickly and shakes for barely a second before retracting his own.

“So, um, how did you meet Mr Stark?” Peter asks, desperately trying to salvage the situation as the three of them get to work.

“He broke into my garage in the middle of the night and I ended up helping him fight terrorists.”

“Can we point out that you tried to defend said garage with a _potato gun_?”

“I was ten!”

“A potato gun? That’s- that’s pretty awesome.” Harley looks back at Peter and grins again.

“Oh, you should see the stuff I’ve made since then.”

Bucky saunters into the communal kitchen, which is near the middle of the tower’s many floors. Sure, there’s a kitchen on his and Steve’s floor, but isn’t nearly as big and besides, the fridge in this one seems to magically replenish itself so it’s never even near empty. Bucky knows there must be someone who keeps it stocked, but since he doesn’t know who and hasn’t ever seen it happen, he’s willing to settle for magic. That’s not exactly a stretch when there’s a floor in the building reserved for a couple of gods from space. Man, this century sure is weird.

He picks up a banana from the fruit bowl that sat on the counter, noticing as he holds it that it’s similar to one of the guns he used to use when... _before_. He doesn’t remember the exact model but the banana is a similar size. Bucky holds it up as if it was the gun, when he hears the metal cover of the vent squeak above him. He aims the ‘gun’ at the vent and isn’t at all surprised to see Clint hanging out of the opening, the banana a couple centimetres from his face. The archer’s eyes widen and Bucky watches in amusement as he loses his footing on the pipe in the vent, landing on his back on the floor at the soldier’s feet.

“Wha- what were you doing with that banana? Did you not have bananas in the 17th century? Here, lemme help you with that,” Clint rambles, taking advantage of Bucky’s confusion by taking the banana and peeling it, taking a large bite before replacing it in Bucky’s still open hand.

“I’m not sure if that was a joke or you’re just an idiot,” Bucky says, before noticing the half-eaten banana in his hand. He fixes his face into an icy glare before squinting his eyes accusingly. “Anyway, what were _you_ doing sneaking around? Last I checked you weren’t on anybody’s hit list, although that’s about to change.”

Clint simply grins at the soldier, though he’s still a little scared of the guy. He’ll die before he admits it.

“Just a precaution. Stark likes the same flavour Cheetos as I do, and I am not getting my ass blasted with an arc reactor just because I always get to them first.” As he talks Clint rummages through the cupboard, taking the Cheetos and throwing them back into the vent opening. He’s about to jump back up when Bucky speaks again.

“Are we doing anything for your birthday this weekend?” The archer stops in his tracks, letting go of the vent and this time landing neatly on his feet.

“How do you know when my birthday is? I’m a spy, no one knows anything about me ‘cept what _I_ tell them,” Clint says, placing a hand on Bucky’s shoulder. Bucky glances at it but says nothing.

“Stark’s computer would beg to differ, he has a list of all of ‘em. So now I have a list of all of ‘em too.”

“How’d you get into his computer? I’ve been trying to crack that for months!”

“Buddy, I’m -well, I was- an assassin. Getting things people don’t want me to get is the whole point.” Now it’s his turn to place a patronising hand on Clint’s shoulder.

“Well, the answer is no, we’re not. Birthdays stink and everyone’s recovering from the holidays, besides, no one except Tasha, you and apparently Stark knows about it. And I’d like it to stay that way, thank you.” With that, he climbs back into his vent, replacing the cover. Bucky’s pretty sure Clint flipped him off because he hears him snickering as he crawls away.

“ _Sergeant Barnes-_ “

“I’ve told you, call me Bucky.”

_“My apologies, sir. I’ve been told to inform you that Mr Stark will be changing his passwords and would like you to go fuck yourself.”_

“Well, Friday, you can kindly return the sentiment.”

Clint and Natasha arrive back at the tower late on Saturday night, having been held up at a meeting with Fury. The two of them are dressed casual, Clint in a simple t-shirt and leather jacket and Natasha in a grey coat and sweater. She’s been expanding her wardrobe recently, Clint has noticed, since the whole Thanos thing. He doesn’t mention it, but it’s nice seeing her in things other than her training gear, her hair switching between different braids. It’s nice seeing her do normal things.

He’s pretty sure the sweater is his, but again, he doesn’t mention it.

When they enter the tower, everything is eerily dark. The receptionist isn’t there, of course, it’s a weekend night, but it still feels strangely emptier than usual.

“Do you think everything’s okay?” He asks Natasha, lowering his voice.

“Shit, Tony warned me about this. Come on!” She takes off, Clint caugh off guard for a second but following her immediately. Natasha leads him through the darkened building, up stairs and down hallways, until Clint can barely tell where in the tower they are anymore. At last, they come to a closed double door, a thin strip of light breaking into the darkness from under it.

“Will you go first?” Natasha asks.

“Why?”

“...I’m scared.”

Clint looks at her incredulously, but no sooner than he starts to question the insanity of her confession (that woman isn’t scared of anything, let alone some measly intruders) he releases what’s going on.

“Oh no, you don’t,” He laughs, folding his arms and shaking his head. “I’m not going. We agreed that we don’t tell anyone our birthdays and-“

“SURPRISE!”

Natasha had shoved Clint ass first through the door, where he’s greeted by everyone else in the lounge. The bar is fully stocked and there’s a table to one side with all sorts of food and a cake with purple frosting and a bow and arrow iced on top. Clint stops whining at Natasha as he realises it feels kinda nice, having your family get together to celebrate you. Did he mention the fully stocked bar?

It’s then that Clint makes eye contact with Bucky, who’s wearing a smug grin along with his black jeans and blue sweater. Clint raises his eyebrows at him, unable to keep the smile off his face.

“I assume you played a part in this, you sneaky bastard.” Bucky shrugged his shoulders, widening his eyes innocently. Clint shakes his head, but he’s not mad, not really. More touched, actually.

“Happy birthday asshole,” Natasha says, smiling as Clint hugs her. He presses a kiss to her cheek before he’s surrounded by everyone else.

“Where did you get this cake? It looks-“ he pauses as he takes a bite of the slice he’d cut himself. “- _and_ _tastes_ amazing!”

“I made it,” Wanda says bashfully, her cheeks reddening as Clint’s smile widened as he looks at her.

“Then it’s only fair that you get the second slice.”

“As much as I hate to keep you from cake, it can wait. Miss Maximoff, I know it’s not Christmas anymore but we have a present for you.” Tony appears suddenly, no one saw him leave or come back. He takes Wanda’s hands gently and guides her to the centre of the room.

“Who’s we?” She asks as Tony moves towards the door at the opposite side to where Clint and Natasha arrived.

“Yours truly, Brucie Bear-“

“Tony, don’t call me that ever again.”

“-No promises. Um, Thor, and my apprentices. Bring it in, boys!”

All questions stick in Wanda’s throat as she sees Peter and Harley come in, wheeling a large table-like thing with a sheet over it. Tony nods at them both before taking the sheet off with a flourish. Wanda’s gasp attracts the others who weren’t already watching to the scene.

“Is that-“

“Yeah. I like to call him Vision 2.0.” Tony allows her a moment to take it in, the body on the table a dull, lifeless grey. The rip in his head had been carefully reconstructed, to anyone else it wouldn’t seem like it had ever been damaged. Wanda can tell, but then again she isn’t just anyone. She hesitantly reaches out, running her hand lightly over the smooth cheeks and forehead, fingers tracing the hole where the mind stone used to sit.

“But Tony, we don’t have the stones, they’re gone, how-“

“With this,” Tony interrupts, holding up a small blue... _something_. Bucky immediately recognises it from earlier.

“And what exactly is _this_?” Sam questions, moving closer and putting a comforting hand on Wanda’s back.

“I’m honestly not sure. Thor managed to get it from Asgard and it had some long assumably Norse name that I forgot instantly. I’ve spent weeks studying it, and it should work pretty similarly to the mind stone, at least for our purpose. As a power source. The technical stuff like Jarvis’s voice and memory and all that good stuff was either made by Ultron or us. Keener, would you do the honours?” Tony finishes, handing the blue rock-like thing to Harley. “Don’t worry, if this doesn’t work we’ll find another way, we will.”

“I have faith,” Wanda says to him, her voice quiet but hopeful. Harley inserts the power source into Vision’s head and immediately the thing shines brighter, the blue light illuminating their faces. They all watch with wide eyes as colour floods back to the android’s body. When the light dims, the eyes flicker open and both Tony and Wanda release a breath they’d been unknowingly holding.

“Vision? You okay buddy?” Tony tries, helping him sit up on the table. The android looks at him and blinks disorientedly.

“Stark, it’s...” He pauses as his data catches up with him, or at least that’s what Tony assumes is happening. “It’s been a while, hasn’t it sir?”

“You’re right about that. How’re you feeling, nothing’s off, is it?” Tony helps Vision stand and starts as his cape materialises behind him. He can’t help but smile at hearing the familiar voice of his old butler again.

“No, I think everything’s... Wanda?” Tony moves back as he sees her, looking up at him with tears in her eyes. Vision blinks again and his face falls, the events leading to his demise the final memories to come back to him. “I’m sorry you had to go through that.”

“I’m sorry for doing it.” Wanda smiles at him as he takes her hand. “Vis, I’m so sorry.”

And then they’re holding each other, the android whispering gentle comforts in her ear as she begins to cry. Tony smiles to himself, another one of his friends able to get rid of undeserved guilt.

“Um, Tony, is he... can he _do_ that?” Bruce’s concerned words make him snap out of his thoughts, looking up in time to see the last of the purple melt away from Vision’s face. “He has... hair, and- and... we didn’t do that, did we?”

“Not that I’m aware of, no,” The genius admits, smiling again as he watches the now more human Vision kiss Wanda’s forehead gently. “But hey, like I said way back when, he’s always evolving.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! I know it’s been a minute and this was originally going to be a Christmas chapter, but hey, I’m lazy and it didn’t happen. I did really enjoy writing this one though, the character interactions come naturally when you’ve watched them/read about them for so long.
> 
> Clint’s birthday was a bit of a tricky one. Jeremy Renner’s birthday is 7th January and apparently MCU Clint is the same. I think comic Clint’s birthday is sometime in June, but who’s counting? Me, but anyway. 
> 
> Also while I’m here, here’s some more things that don’t exist in this story: Morgan Stark and Clint’s random family. Clint’s family doesn’t exist because they annoy me, I cannot for the life of me see him as a family man. Morgan, although adorable, doesn’t exist because I feel she ties Tony to Pepper and I didn’t want to go down that route. 
> 
> As always, thanks for reading :)


End file.
